Business Tax Extension Vote May Be This Week, Durbin Says

By Kathleen Hunter and Richard Rubin -
Sep 19, 2012

The U.S. Senate’s second-ranking
Democrat said a vote may be held this week on $205.1 billion in
tax-break extensions, including those for wind energy, corporate
research and financial services companies’ overseas operations.

“We would like to move to it before we leave, get a vote
on it,” Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, an Illinois
Democrat, said today in an interview in Washington.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, is
negotiating with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky
Republican, to schedule a vote, Durbin said. The Senate is
trying to wrap up its business so members can go home and
campaign for the Nov. 6 election.

“I think it’s a little late, because there’s no time,”
said Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the second-ranking Republican.
“It’s a huge subject. By letting it go this long, I just think
we’ve forgone the opportunity to effectively deal with it this
week.”

A vote on the tax breaks this week is preferable because
some “have a direct impact” on business investment decisions,
Durbin said.

“We’re finding that a lot of the renewable and sustainable
energy investments are being held up because of the
uncertainty,” he said. “We hope that we can pass this extender
bill, maybe even encourage the House to do the same, and dispel
the uncertainty and create more jobs.”

House Republicans

Even if the Senate acts this week, the measure won’t become
law because Republicans who have the majority in the House have
said they will wait until after the election to address the tax
breaks.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp told
reporters he would rather deal with the tax-break extensions
after Congress acts on continuing the George W. Bush-era tax
cuts.

Most of the tax breaks have lapsed and would be revived by
the measure, S. 3521. One exception is the production tax credit
for wind energy, which expires Dec. 31. The bill would extend
the wind energy production tax credit through 2013.

Alternative Minimum Tax

The proposal also would ensure that more taxpayers aren’t
subject to paying the alternative minimum tax in 2012 and 2013.
The tax, initially designed to prevent high-income households
from avoiding taxes legally, disproportionately affects people
in high-income states with heavy local tax burdens, including
New York, New Jersey and California.

Financial-services companies that operate outside the U.S.,
companies that conduct corporate research and some restaurant
owners are among the businesses benefiting from the tax breaks.
Companies including General Electric Co. (GE), Citigroup Inc. (C) and
Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) are among those lobbying for extensions of
expired provisions.

Some tax benefits, including those for investment in the
District of Columbia, wouldn’t be extended under the plan.

Finance Committee members are meeting privately throughout
the day on strategies for addressing with the so-called fiscal
cliff, the combination of the expiring Bush-era tax cuts and
automatic spending reductions set to take effect in January. The
panel’s private meetings include a 4:30 p.m. session with
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke.